AAI officials fudged ‘near-miss’ data

Dec 16, 2012, 04.26AM ISTTNN[ Manju V ]

MUMBAI: Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh recently announced that 65 'airprox' incidents — situations where two or more moving aircraft come in proximity of each other -- took place over Indian skies in the past three years. But airprox statistics from Mumbai airport alone are enough to show that the minister's statement has no proximity to truth.

Data collected from air traffic records shows that in 2011 itself, 54 airprox incidents took place at Mumbai airport, involving aircraft that were landing.

Because of error on part of the air traffic controller or the pilots, these aircraft came in proximity with other aircraft and so had to abort the descent and do a climb (go-around, in aviation parlance) to return for a second attempt at landing.

In India, air traffic management is handled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), a public sector undertaking. "AAI officials have been fudging airprox data since the past four years or so. One of the prime reasons is that under the existent system, air traffic controllers involved in these incidents stand to lose 50-70% of their take-home salary till the time the investigations are complete,'' said a source. Many other countries do not follow this system. They do not levy financial penalties as the prime objective is to encourage airprox reporting and thus improve safety.

AAI defines airprox as a situation "in which, in the opinion of a pilot or air traffic service personnel, the distance between aircraft as well as their relative positions and speed have been such that the safety of the aircraft involved may have been compromised". It further goes on to classify airprox incidents into four categories based on the seriousness of the incidents, which is how close the aircraft came to each other.

"But only two out of the 54 airprox incidents reported in Mumbai were investigated as per the norms laid down,'' said a highly placed source. "So we do not know how many of the remaining 52 can be categorized as serious incidents. Not carrying out a proper investigation means not learning from our mistakes,'' said the official.

How does an airprox affect an air traffic controller? Air traffic controllers earn, what is called a "rating allowance" and "stress allowance". Before 2008, the quantum of these allowances was small. In September 2008, after the boom in aviation led to a rise in flights and increased air traffic congestion over airports, making the job of a controller more stressful, these allowances were increased manifold.

So a senior air traffic controller, based in Mumbai, who has all the ratings - in other words, who is qualified to handle all air traffic control jobs -- now earns a monthly "rating allowance" of Rs 26,000 and another Rs 26,000 as "stress allowance". A junior controller with a basic rating earns an allowance of Rs 4,500 and another Rs 4,500 as stress allowance.

"Because of increased air traffic congestion, the number of airprox incidents went up. On the other hand, post 2008, the allowances made up for 50-70% of take home salary. An air-traffic controller under investigation for airprox is literally penalized as his rating allowance is discontinued and so the tendency was to ignore these incidents,'' the source added.